Ownership

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joe Simons aid he’s prepared to break up major technology platforms if necessary by undoing their past mergers as his agency investigates whether companies are harming competition. Chairman Simons, who is leading a broad review of the technology sector, said that breaking up a company is challenging, but could be the right remedy to rein in dominant companies and restore competition. “If you have to, you do it,” Chairman Simons said about breaking up tech companies. “It’s not ideal because it’s very messy. But if you have to you have to.”

T-Mobile and Sprint filed their opposition to calls for a formal comment period on proposed changes to their planned merger, saying petitioners already have had plenty of time to comment and it’s time for the Federal Communications Commission to act. The August 9 filing came after the Wireless Internet Services Providers Association (WISPA) on 

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai shared with his colleagues a draft Order that would approve, subject to conditions, the proposed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. “After one of the most exhaustive merger reviews in Commission history, the evidence conclusively demonstrates that this transaction will bring fast 5G wireless service to many more Americans and help close the digital divide in rural areas.

In July, the head of the Information Technology Industry Council published a warning against overly broad antitrust investigations that ‘could jeopardize American companies' leadership’ — a message that came amid rising regulatory heat on the group's members Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook. But it soon became clear that some in the Information Technology Industry Council didn't want to risk being seen as defending the four embattled tech giants.

After years of on-again, off-again merger talks, broadcast giant CBS and its corporate sibling Viacom finally agreed to reunite in a $12-billion deal that will bring together such well-known brands as CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon and Showtime. CBS, which is the larger of the two companies and worth $18.5 billion, will absorb the smaller Viacom, which owns such assets as MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central and the Paramount Pictures movie studio in Hollywood.

Not long ago, many leading technologists considered themselves too lofty and idealistic to concern themselves with the petty affairs of government. But that was before privacy scandals, antitrust investigations, congressional hearings, Chinese tariffs, presidential tweets and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Now, as they try to fend off regulation and avoid being broken up, some of the largest companies in Silicon Valley are tripping over their Allbirds in a race to cozy up to the United States government.

Facebook has started to modify its behavior — in both pre-emptive and defensive ways — to deal with threats of regulation. Facebook has its eye particularly on the Federal Trade Commission, the agency that is now investigating it for anticompetitive practices.

Netflix has been evolving its public policy strategies in recent months to align itself more with Hollywood and less with Silicon Valley, a shift driven by the streamer's maturation into a full-fledged film and TV studio, by its international expansion and by the intense scrutiny Washington is now applying to the tech companies.

The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) is adding its voice to those calling on the Federal Communications Commission to open a public comment period since new developments were made related to the proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. WISPA, which previously called for a public comment period, notes the series of agreements that T-Mobile and Sprint entered into with the Department of Justice in July. Those conditions include the divestiture of certain spectrum assets to Dish Network.

When AT&T acquired Time Warner in 2018 for $85 billion, the companies said the deal would be great for consumers, who would benefit from lower prices and improved service. The Justice Department said the opposite, predicting the merger would give AT&T so much market power that price hikes and channel blackouts were all but inevitable. And now we know. The government was right.